London and Montreal designer Emilie F. Grenier has created set of brass tools and a silk outfit for mining feldspar - the most plentiful mineral on Earth.

Emilie F. Grenier's Disquiet Luxurians project considers redefining luxury so the process of creating products such as jewellery becomes the expensive factor rather than the material.

She proposes that if craft was to be valued higher than materials, gems for jewellery could be sourced and fashioned from the group of minerals called feldspar instead of rare stones.

Feldspars are formed from crystallised magma and make up around 60% of the earth's crust.

Grenier's collection of opulent tools becomes the luxury element of the process as opposed to the mined minerals, as one set of utensils can be used to eventually create many pieces of jewellery.

Her set comprises three chisels with square, hexagonal and oval cutting heads, plus a hexagonal block used to hammer the ends of each tool.

Grenier made the implements from brass, a much more malleable metal than those traditionally used to made chisels such as steel. "Brass is a softer alloy, hence rarely used to craft stone-carving chisels or hammer heads," she told Dezeen.

She designed a green silk boiler suit to be worn when mining the mineral, which was purposefully made to be difficult to move in.

"Silk chiffon is an incredibly delicate textile with barely any give - potentially one of the worst materials to use for utility clothing," said Grenier. "In doing so, the post-luxurian mining experience became a geological choreography, and the act of collecting less mechanical, and more unique. This was one of the strategies in this project to add value to the most plentiful mineral on Earth."

Grenier also produced range of feldspar gems, cut into simple shapes with the help of lapidaries at Holt Gems in London.

"The set of gems was designed with über minimalist shapes to expose the fragility of the stone," she explained. "Cutting them according to traditional gemmology standards would have rendered them too common, too commercial."

A chunky ring she made is presented on a rough section of the material beneath a glass bell jar.

"The ring was inspired by art deco jewellery, from a time when women only wore the fanciest pieces at the fanciest soirées, but the jewels actually spent their lives in beautiful vanity cases and became instant heirlooms," Grenier said. "This was why it was important for me to design a vanity case as well, using a rougher cut of the stone to highlight its provenance, and the lapidary's craft."

My brain wants to explode, and my belly regurgitate.
Get a life people.

pizzaface

hipster project △

Nick

Meh.

Kalum

I find this work oddly disconnected, if not tasteless, with the grim reality of mine workers around the world.

But hey… design and luxury right? Why would jewellers care about that?

Alchemist

Am I missing something?

George

This is a joke, right?

Henry

It’s an academic exersize, people. While the shapes of the tools themselves may be (at this point) played out, the thought process behind them is clearly provoking. Saw this in Milan as the Textile Futures booth was right near mine. Glad to see it getting more exposure!

Matt

It’s depressing what an anti-intellectual forum Dezeen has become (although I agree with Kalum’s comment).

Calen

Amen to that! I disagree with Kalum, thats over sensitivity to me. This is not a real proposal to have miners mine in silk suits and archaic tools. It’s about the idea of valuing the craft over the material. Material value is relative. The fineness of a craft defines its worth, not an arbitrary value assignment.

ereh

Some call it intellectual, some call it desperate.

calen

Yup, and some people call it the Library and some people call it “that building I stand in front of and ask for change”

erom

Don’t be so harsh on the project. It is not that bad.

calen

I’m for the project, I was making fun of ereh.

neez

If you go down this route with a project you need an absolutely waterproof concept. Because that is all there is. But sadly a lot of conceptual work falls apart to nothing if you start questioning it a bit.

raphael

Brass + tool = nonsense

amsam

Dezeen’s coverage of the experimental/ whimsical/ conceptual side of the design world is worth it just to watch the peanut gallery splutter with their outrage. Pity we can’t have the actual conversation, but you can’t have everything, eh?

liaf uoy

Didn’t really work then, did it?

thetruth

You know you can have the actual conversation? just switch off the internet for once and go out. There is something out there that is called life. Many people seem to have forgotten this over commenting too much online.

amsam

It’s a fine point, but why are you online making it, instead of living that something out there that’s called life?